


Come Home Safe

by CoffeeAndArrows



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Barton Farm, But can be read as Clint/Laura and platonic friendship with Nat if you like, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, However you like it, Multi, Was written as Clint/Laura/Nat, Where Was Clint Barton During Captain America 2?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-11
Updated: 2016-02-11
Packaged: 2018-05-19 14:59:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,234
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5971192
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CoffeeAndArrows/pseuds/CoffeeAndArrows
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nat had been on a mission with Steve Rogers.</p><p>Steve Rogers had had a gun to his head.</p><p>----------<br/>Clint and Laura during the events of Winter Soldier :)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Come Home Safe

**Author's Note:**

> I can't imagine how it must have been for Clint and Laura during the events of ca:tws, but they must have been so worried about Nat...
> 
> Un-beta'd, so feel free to tell me if you spot any errors!
> 
> Rated for very, very vague violence, and Clint's dirty mouth.
> 
> Enjoy! :)

  
They were sat on the sofa as a family, watching the TV when it happened.

Without warning, the cartoon suddenly cut off, the screen changing to show the breaking news - complete with images of wreckage, smashed up areas of DC, and right in the center of it all, Captain America.

Laura felt her eyes widen, and she let out an involuntary gasp, turning to look at Clint as soon as she heard his identical gasp beside her. The images of Captain America with a gun to his head temporarily distracted her, and although the reporter was talking, the words were somehow lost as she stared at her husband, terrified.

 

Nat had been on a mission with Steve Rogers.

Steve Rogers had had a gun to his head.

 

Before she had time to voice her concerns aloud, she heard another quiet gasp - this time from her right - followed by Cooper's small voice. 'Um... Is that Auntie Nat?'

Two sets of eyes immediately flicked back to the TV, just in time to see a flash of red hair as the cameras swept around. Although the figure was small and barely visible, they would recognise that hair anywhere.

Voice tight, Laura leaned over to ruffle Cooper's hair with her right hand, her left subconsciously squeezing Clint's tightly. Their eyes met, and Laura could see the panic and confusion that she felt reflected in his eyes.

'Hey, Coop, how about you go get ready for bed, yeah?

Cooper turned to face his dad, an indignant look on his face. 'But I've still got ten minutes until it's my bedtime! You didn't make Lila go to bed early!'

'Coop...' Laura started, but trailed off, unsure of what to say. 'Cooper, please, this is important. We'll be up in a minute, okay?'

After a long pause, Cooper nodded and left to go to bed, clearly annoyed with his parents decision, and the fact that they hadn't answered his questions about the news.

As soon as he had gone, Laura spun round to face her husband, the fear she had felt seeping through her skin clearly visible on her face. 

'Nat... Where is she? What's going on?'

Clint shook his head in frustration. 'I don't know Laur, I don't know what's going on. I'm going to try calling her.'

She nodded shakily, getting up to go tuck Cooper in, brushing a soft, comforting kiss to his lips before she left. Nat would be okay. Nat _would_ be okay. 

 

  
When Laura came back downstairs twenty minutes later, exhausted by Cooper's persistent questions about his Auntie Nat and Captain America, she found her husband pacing the room, agitated and looking as if he was on the edge of a breakdown. 

'I can't get hold of her. I called and I called, and I tried Hill and Bobbi and Fury, and then I turned the news back on, and it said that Fury was dead, and Cap and Nat were fugitives from the government, and that -' His voice broke, and Laura felt her heart tear in two at the sound. Nat was gone, or missing, or...

No. She would be okay, she would be fine. Out of everyone she knew, Natasha was the best at surviving. She would be fine.

Dragging Clint over to her laptop, she wrapped her arm around him tightly, offering him the only reassurance she could. 'Google, Clint. Google is a marvelous thing, right?'

He nodded disbelievingly as his wife opened up the search engine and typed in Captain America's name. Immediately, hundreds of news articles popped up, all talking about the death of director Fury and the fact that SHIELD's two top agents were fugitives from the organization, on the grounds that they were 'witholding classified information and possibly assisting the death of Director Nicholas Fury.'

Clint shook himself from his thoughts as his wife finished reading, studying her face carefully. Not satisfied with the information which she had found, Laura flicked over to images, and although most of the photos were of Steve and an unknown man with guns to their head in the center of a Bridge, there were several pictures in which Natasha's telltale red hair could be clearly seen.

Laura clicked on one of the images, and although Natasha's back was to the camera, and her face was hidden, she felt Clint stiffen beside her.

'She's hurt. She's loosing blood, and she has her hand pressed against her shoulder, even though it would kill her to show weakness to them.  I'd say GSW, a serious one - he has a gun to her head, and she's clutching her shoulder, for fuck's sake. She doesn't do that, Laur, Nat doesn't fucking do that. You can die from a shot to the shoulder. She could be fucking dying, and I'm -'

His voice got louder and more panicked as he spoke, but Laura couldn't even bring herself to chastise him for swearing near the kids, instead choosing to wrap her arms around him, tucking her head into his chest.

He smelled like safety, like home, but it was all wrong. He couldn't smell like home when half of her home was missing, and hurting. 

'Come home safe Nat,' she whispered softly, trying desperately to hold herself together. She needed to be strong, or Clint would fall apart. Only allowing herself a few soft tears, she discreetly wiped her eyes before pulling away from Clint. 

He brushed a lock of hair from her face, tucking it behind her ear before pressing a gentle kiss to the top of her head, burying his nose in her hair and inhaling deeply.

'Come to bed Laur,' he murmured, and only then did she notice the exhaustion that had seeped into her bones. Nodding tiredly in response to his suggestion, she followed him upstairs, and after changing into one of his shirts she climbed under the covers with him, taking care to leave one of his hoodies on the chair by the bed. She had a feeling that neither of them would be getting much sleep that night.

 

 

It was a week before Natasha called, one of the worst weeks of their lives. The fall of SHIELD was all over the news, and the idea that Nat had been there made Laura feel sick to her stomach. 

But not as sick as she felt knowing that the internet was scattered with SHIELD files, and  Natasha's past was being dissected and published for all to see.

That was much, much worse. 

 

 

It was another week before Natasha turned up, creeping in in the middle of the night, slipping through the shadows with bandages covering her shoulder and waist, with bags under her eyes so dark they looked like bruises, carrying so much pain that for a moment Laura wondered if she could ever be happy again.

As they curled up together, Nat tried to hold it all back, but even she couldn't stop herself from having emotions, and as she shed silent tears for all she had lost they embraced her, letting her tears soak into her shirt. Clint's arms wrapped protectively around her waist, and Laura spared a moment to thank every God she knew of for her partner's safe return.

They would be happy again. They would rebuild from the start if they had to, they would wait as long as they had to for Nat to trust herself again.

They had time.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Your comments keep me going :) hope you liked it!!


End file.
